Jaspal Bhatti: The common man's comedian

Bhatti will forever remembered for the Doordarshan series ‘Flop Show', a sitcom on socio-cultural problems of the common man. Bhatti wrote and directed the show and also played the lead character. His wife Savita produced and played Bhatti's wife in the show

Jaspal Bhatti and Vivek Shauq in 'Flop Show'

Although only 10 episodes of ‘Flop Show' were produced, it became synonymous with Bhatti, and till day people connect with the character played by him in the show

Vivek Shauq, one of Bhatti's co-actors in ‘Flop Show', went on to become a popular character actor in Hindi cinema

Bhatti's other TV shows were ‘Ulta Pulta' and ‘Nonsense Private Limited', but nothing could match the popularity of ‘Flop Show'

He went on to play supporting roles in a few Bollywood films, notably 'Aa Ab Laut Chalen', 'Koi Mere Dil Se Poochhe' and 'Fanaa'

Bhatti focused his attention on corruption in society right from his younger days. His college street ‘Nonsense Club' was a spoof on the same and became quite famous

Before shifting focus to television, he was a cartoonist for ‘The Tribune' newspaper in Chandigarh

Bhatti had set up a training school and studio in Chandigarh and named it ‘Joke Factory'

In the run up to the 2009 General Elections, Bhatti took his spoof on Indian politics to the streets, forming an outfit named ‘Recession Party'. The cause, which was to shame tainted Indian politicians, saw many noted comedians including Johny Lever, Rakesh Bedi and Rajesh Puri joining hands with Bhatti

At a carnival in Chandigarh in 2009, Bhatti put up a stall displaying vegetables, daal, etc. People were invited to throw rings around those to win them as prizes. This was Bhatti's attempt to mock the government's failure to control inflation

In an ironic twist of fate, Bhatti died a day before his latest Punjabi film ‘Power Cut' was scheduled to release. Not surprisingly, his last movie is also a satire on corruption, power outrage to be precise u00a0